"I'm sorry, Mr.-"

"Special Agent Coulson."

"Special Agent Coulson," the spa lady whose name tag read BRENDA began again, "But it is against our policy to give out any information on our clients, if they are indeed are our clients."

"So you won't even confirm that Mrs. Stark and her daughter are even here?"

"Of course not, sir! Now unless you're going to book some of our services for yourself or your lady friend-" Brenda replied, her eyes flashing in the direction of the nearby redhead, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave the premises."

"Miss, you don't understand. My team and I are here because we have reason to believe that the lives of Mrs. Stark and her daughter are in grave danger. We have information that they've been targeted for abduction after they leave your facility. It is important that I speak with Mrs. Stark immediately."

"I-"

"Miss, there is also a chance that the kidnappers may not wait until they leave to attempt the abduction. They may try to take them while they're here. Please, for their safety as well as that of everyone in this building, you must allow me to speak with Mrs. Stark."

Brenda sighed, "All right, let me go talk with the manager. Wait here please."

Coulson nodded, and waited for her to disappear before he motioned for the red headed agent to come over. "We can't wait for them to decide to allow us to talk to Mrs. Stark. I need you to find her and her daughter now."

Natasha nodded, "Yes, sir."

She donned on a client courtesy pink robe (not really her color) before slipping through a door that was clearly meant for spa personnel and clients only. Once inside she found traded the robe for an employee smock and began searching through the rooms as discreetly as she could. Two minutes, thirty-six seconds later she heard a child's voice.

"Mommy, I'm hungry!"

"We'll be having lunch after this, sweetheart. Won't we, Melissa?"

"Yes, I believe lunch is next on the agenda. Let me go check and make sure they've almost got lunch ready for you. I'll be right back."

Natasha waited for her to leave in a nearby alcove until she had disappeared down the hallway, and hurried into the room. She found mother and daughter reclined very comfortable looking chairs, clad in matching pink robes. Pepper's face was covered with a brown facial mask, and she had her eyes closed so she didn't see Natasha's entrance.

Eva stared at her for a moment before she shyly said, "Hi."

Pepper opened her eyes, "Natalie?"

"Natasha," she corrected.

"Right, Natasha. Don't tell me you're working here at the spa now," Pepper said, eyeing the misplaced smock warily.

The Russian snatched it off and threw it to the side. "No, I don't. I am sorry to interrupt your day together but I'm here with Director… I'm here with my Director, who needs to speak with you."

"About what?"

"All I am at liberty to say is that it is important. Very important."

"Who are you? How did you get in?" Melissa asked upon re-entering the room, adding when she received no answer, "I'm calling security!"

Pepper took one last look at Natasha and said, "Melissa, don't, please. I know her and she's not here to hurt us."

The young woman nodded, reluctantly, "Okay, Mrs. Stark, if you think it's okay."

"Can you please let us have some privacy?" Pepper asked.

Melissa clearly did not want to leave but she did as requested.

"Now, what is this about, really?"

"All I can tell you is, that it's urgent or I would have given you more advanced warning," Natasha emphasized again.

"Advanced warning about what?" Pepper asked.

"You'll see." Natasha raised her hand to her ear. "Understood, I found them and we'll be there shortly."

Pepper's eyes widened as they caught sight of the solitary man in the small room, and her mouth fell open. "I don't understand," she said once she could speak. "How can you be here? Tony said that you... were killed before the Battle of New York!"

Phil smiled, gently confirming, "I was... dead, it's true."

"But you're... Phil, we went to your funeral for goodness sakes!"

In the next second it was Coulson's turn to be surprised as she enveloped him in a hug, noting when she pulled back she there were tears in her eyes. "It's so good to see you again, Ms... I'm sorry, Mrs. Stark. I only wish it were under better circumstances."

Pepper sensed the seriousness of that statement and asked, "Phil, what's going on? I thought SHIELD was gone, taken down according to the official news by quote 'unknown forces, both internal and external' unquote. The news also said that you were not actually an agency that have been sanctioned by the United States government."

Coulson nodded, "The government had to say that we were that at least partially we weren't sanctioned by them when everything went down because of the nature of what actually happened. Tell me, what has Mr. Stark told you about what actually occurred during those events?"

"He told me that SHIELD was infiltrated by HYDRA, and that Captain America had made the call to take down the entire organization."

"Yes, unfortunately with the level of infiltration HYDRA had been able to effectuate before the truth came out, taking SHIELD down was the only way left to stop their immediate plans. Regrettably it was the only way to distinguish friend from foe," Phil said, his eyes clouding over at the memory of the immediate fallout and the betrayal by one of his own team members.

"So Phil, if SHIELD was supposed to have been taken down by Captain America months ago, can you tell me why Natalie... err, Natasha shows up at the spa my daughter and I are at, with a group of people who are obviously agents of some sort before she asks for us to leave with them because she implied we're in some sort of danger but won't tell me any specific details?"

"SHIELD isn't as disbanded as we've allowed everyone to believe we are."

Pepper smiled in a way that said she was anything but happy. "Yeah, I kind of got that. Are you going to tell me what is going on or do I have to wait until I've finally gotten to meet Director Fury before I find out the answer to that?

"Director Fury is gone," Phil said bluntly.

"What?"

He saw the genuine surprise on her face, and he knew she didn't know the truth, which made what he was about to say... or not say as the case might be even harder. "One of HYDRA's first acts when they revealed themselves was to make two assassination attempts on Director Fury." Coulson paused to allow the information to sink in before he added, "His last act as SHIELD Director was to appoint me as his successor."

"I would congratulate you on the promotion but the fact you've just revealed to me that you're alive and that SHIELD still exists tells me there's something bad about to happen and you think my family will be dragged into it, whatever it is," Pepper said.

Coulson sighed, looking grim, "I'm afraid we don't think, we know. How informed are you when it comes to the technology and weapons your husband designs and makes for the Iron Man suit?"

Pepper looked chagrined as she answered, "I'll be honest, there's not much I know about the suits at all. I know I probably should have a basic knowledge about them but it's hard for me to think about the suits because I don't really like thinking about Tony going into combat... it just scares me because I know something like New York could happen again and this time he won't come home." She shuddered, remembering the awful sight of him flying nuke through the portal on what should have been a one way trip. "Why, do the suits have something to do with why what you're here now?"

"I'm afraid so. We're afraid... no, we know that Mr. Stark had been working on an invisibility feature for the Iron Man that has managed to garner the attention of a HYDRA affiliated group who call themselves Kreis der Befreiung."

"Circle of Liberation?" Pepper translated.

The circumstances notwithstanding, once more Phil Coulson found himself impressed with this woman who had stolen the heart of the one time self-described and confirmed playboy, Tony Stark. "Yes, we had intel that gave us reason to believe that they'd make a move against your family today with an attempted abduction."

"Because they somehow know that Tony's not here right, that he's in Canada on business for the day," Pepper said, then gasped, "Oh my... Ethan, our son, Happy is supposed to be taking him home from school right about now." She pulled out her phone, and quickly dialed Happy's number, letting it ring until the call went to voice mail. Pepper ended the call, and dialed his number again, and the line rang until it went through to voice mail.

"He's not answering," Coulson stated.

She shook her head, "No, but it's not unusual for Happy not to answer his phone when he's in heavy traffic. He-" Doubt, worry and fear began to cloud her eyes as it went to voice mail again. "Happy, it's Pepper, would you please call me as soon as you get this message? Thanks!" She started to make another call when Phil stopped her.

"Remember that I said we anticipated they'd try something like this? I sent a team of agents led by Agent Barton to meet up with Mr. Hogan and your son. Barton would have had required that Mr. Hogan shut off his phone to make it harder for them to be tracked. In fact, I need you to do the same." When he saw her hesitation, Phil touched her arm, "Please Virginia, I need you to trust me. You and your daughter are safe now, Agent Barton will be reporting in any second, and once he has we'll take you all to a safe location until we can neutralize Kreis der Befreiung. And you have my word that they will be neutralized one way or another, even if it means having to call for the Avengers to assemble."

"I need to talk to Tony," Pepper said weakly.

The SHIELD director nodded, "And I promise you, you will as soon as we can arrange something more secure than a cellular phone."

Pepper hesitated but then turned off her phone.

"Thank you, Mrs. Stark."

"Sir, Agent Barton is standing by with his report."

"Excuse me for a moment."

Coulson exited the room, and walked down the hallway until he was out of earshot of Pepper, then he turned on his comm. "What's your status, Agent Barton? Tell me that you have Ethan Stark and Hogan in your custody."

"I wish I could, sir, but we got here five minutes too late."

Coulson swore in a low voice then inquired, "What happened? How bad is it?"

"It appears Kreis der Befreiung had knowledge of what route Hogan would take while driving young Stark home and set up a roadblock under the pretense of repairing a busted water pipe. The car was surrounded after Hogan stopped it and they forced him to open the door. The boy was taken but it not without a fight as we found Hogan on the ground. He's down with three gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen. Medics are attending to him now."

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